One Jellicle Only Will See?
by Jessica R Vance
Summary: The Jellicle legend says that only one Jellicle may see the Heavyside Lair each year. What will happen when an inseperable duo is in danger of being split up by this legend?


One Jellicle Only Will See?  
  
By: Jessica R Vance  
  
Rating: G. There's the slightest hint of romance, but nothing big.  
  
Summary: The old legend says only one Jellicle each year can see the Heavyside Lair and be reborn to a new Jellicle Life. What happens when an inseperable duo is in danger of being split up by this tradition?  
  
Disclaimer: Hey, look! My first "Cats" fic! I don't own any of this, ya know. Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer are owned by T.S. Eliot, and "Cats" belongs to Andrew Lloyd Webber. That everyone? I think so. ^_^()  
  
Author's Notes: Um... I gave typing Mungo and Rumple's accents a go in this... I hope you can understand what they're saying. I've seen fics before where they type them and I got *so* lost trying to figure out what they were saying. Oh, and in this, Mungo and Rumple are *not* brother and sister. I don't believe they are, and don't flame me if you do. I have my opinions, you have yours, let's just be friends with that, shall we? ^_^ I'm not saying this is hugely romantic ('cause it's not) but still, they're not brother and sister in this thing.  
  
*One Jellicle Only Will See?*  
  
The lights in the junkyard flashed, and thunder could be heard in the distance. "Macavity!" Demeter shrieked. The Jellicles gasped and began to scatter to distant corners of the junkyard. Rumpleteazer looked around frantically, but couldn't seem to find her partner in crime anywhere.  
  
"Mungojerrie!" she called, "Mungo! Wheh ah you!?"  
  
She stepped nervously backward, keeping on her guard from the vicious Macavity. She began to get nervous. What if Mungojerrie had been caught by Macavity? He used to be one of his agents before he left him... maybe Macavity was out for revenge...? Rumpleteazer shuddered at the thought. Mungojerrie was a strong tom, but did he stand a chance against the Napoleon of Crime?  
  
"BOO!"  
  
Rumpleteazer yowled loudly and whirled around, claws and teeth flying. She stopped short, however, when she found herself face to face with a grinning Mungojerrie. "MUNGOJERRIE!" she screamed, infuriated. She cuffed him with her paw and he bowled over, laughing. "'at's not funny!"   
  
"'ere now, calm down, luv, I was jist 'avin' a bit of a laugh," Mungojerrie said, standing up, still smiling good-naturedly.  
  
"Oooooh, don't you 'calm down, luv' me," Rumpleteazer snarled, "You knew very well I was scared outta my wits 'cuz I though' Macavity 'ad you!"  
  
Mungojerrie's grin disappeared as the rest of the Jellicles began to reenter the junkyard cautiously. He walked with Rumpleteazer over to a corner and said, "Now 'old on a minute, I didn't know you was scared o' that. If I hadda, I would'na done whot I did, y'oughta know that."  
  
Rumpleteazer still glared at him, tears smarting in her eyes. "Even so, you was out to scare me an' 'at's still mean," she said. She wouldn't admit just how scared she had been for him; she was sure he would tell her she was being a git.  
  
Mungojerrie placed a paw on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, Rumple," he said soothingly, nuzzling her neck slightly. "You all right? Seems loik y've been kinda down o' late, somethin' wrong?"  
  
Rumpleteazer avoided eye contact with him. Truthfully, something *had* been bothering her. For several weeks, ever since the preparations for the Jellicle Ball were being made, and the excited chatter of who would be chosen to ascend to the Heavyside Lair had started flitting through the air, something had been weighing heavy on her mind.   
  
But she wasn't going to tell him that. "Um... no, not really..." she said.  
  
Mungojerrie raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Ya may be a highly efficient cat-burglar, Rumpleteazer, but you're a ter'ble liar. I known ya too long not t' know when some'in's messin' with ya. Out wi' it."  
  
Rumpleteazer frowned. There was no getting out of it. "Oh, all roight. Ya know 'ow Ol' Deuteronomy picks the Cat t' go t' the 'eavyside Lair, roight?"   
  
Mungojerrie looked indignant. "O' course I do!"  
  
"O' course. Now, I've been thinkin'..."  
  
"Uh-oh," Mungojerrie cut in with an impish smile. "Ya know what kinda trouble 'at gets ya inta, Rumple." Rumpleteazer cuffed him again.  
  
"Shut up. This is serious!" Mungojerrie shut up. "Anyways. I been wonderin': what's gonna 'appen if one o' us gets taken up 'ere?"  
  
Mungojerrie looked excited. "Ya think one o' us will? We'd getta see the Heavyside, Rumple! What's bad 'bout that? I think it'd be great fuh us t' see it!"  
  
"Mungo! Ya missin' the point! Ya keep sayin' 'we' an' 'us'!"  
  
"So?"  
  
"So! You oughta know what the legend says! 'One Jellicle only will see,' remember? On'y one o' us'd get t' go!" Mungojerrie's happy face faded as he began to understand what Rumpleteazer was getting at.  
  
"An' 'en..." he said slowly.  
  
"'oever it is'd be reborn and we'd probably neva see each otha again." Rumpleteazer said, finishing his thought. They stared at each other for the longest time, oblivious to the cats all around them. "'at's whot's been worryin' me, Mungo," Rumpleteazer said, in an attempt to break the uneasy silence between them.  
  
"I neva woulda guessed... I neva thought about this, Rumple. I mean, why would Ol' D wanna take one o' us up t' the Lair? We're not hahdly worth it, we're not." Mungojerrie began to pace, deep in thought. "But still, what if? He still may..." Suddenly he stopped pacing and whirled around, staring hard at Rumpleteazer. "I couldn't do it, Teazer... I don' know what I'd do..." His brow furrowed and he turned away. "'ere's a chance 'oever it is wouldn't be reborn anywheh 'round 'ere." he said sadly.  
  
"'ere's a chance they wouldn't even be in England!" Rumpleteazer said, sitting next to him. "They could end up in... America." Both cats shuddered at the thought.  
  
"Ya... ya don't really think he'd bother wi' us, do ya, Teazer?" Mungo asked as he lay down and forlornly placed his head on his outstretched paws. Rumple place one paw on either side of him and lay down too, resting her head on his.  
  
"I dunno, Jerrie. 'Ere's a chance 'e might pick anyone," she sighed.   
  
"Mungojerrie! Rumpleteazer!" someone called. The cats looked up to see Munkustrap beckoning them. They headed over to the group. "Now... Old Deuteronomy, just before dawn... through a silence you feel you could cut with a knife..." Munkustrap said, reciting the traditional words, "Annouces the cat who can now be reborn... and come back to a different Jellicle life..." All the cats but Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer stretched their paws out to their beloved leader.  
  
Old Deuteronomy scanned the crowd. His eyes fell on one cat. A cat who had lived through trials and tribulations their entire life. A cat whose life now was nothing compared to what it could be. A cat who had worked so hard their entire life just to survive, and a cat who definetely deserved to be taken to the Heavyside Lair. He held out his paw and said in a low tone, "Rumpleteazer."  
  
Rumpleteazer's eyes brimmed with tears. "No..." she whispered to herself. Old Deuteronomy began listing why he chose her, what his reasons were. She was hardly listening. She looked at Mungojerrie, who was shaking his head silently. She looked back at Old D when she realized he wasn't speaking anymore.  
  
"What's wrong, my child?" he asked her, obviously noticing the pained look on her face.  
  
"I... I can't go," she whispered. Gasps rippled through the crowd. Old D smiled kindly.  
  
"Of course you can go. Why couldn't you?"  
  
Desperately searching for a better reason than her real one, Rumpleteazer sputtered, "Wahl... mah 'umans, fuh one thing. They'd be ter'ble mad if 'eir cat wound up missin' one day..."  
  
"And for another thing?" Old D said, taking what she was saying into consideration.  
  
"An'... an' for anotha..." Rumple sighed, "I can't leave Jerrie..." She looked at Mungo out of the corner of her eye. He was smiling softly at her.  
  
Old D was studying her. "I realize Mungojerrie is your friend..." he said, "But think of the Heavyside Lair!"  
  
"Mungojerrie's all I 'ave," Rumpleteazer said, not to be swayed.  
  
"You could have much more after you were reborn," Old D said, intent on persuading her.  
  
Rumpleteazer looked at him for a minute, then said quietly, "'e's all I want." She could plainly see Jerrie's face light up from the corner of her eye. When she turned to him, he nuzzled her enthusiastically under her chin. She returned the favor. Old D watched them, smiling.  
  
"Rumpleteazer," he said, "You have shown true devotion and true love with this test," Rumple looked at him in surprise; she didn't even know it *was* a test. "And for that, you may go to the Heavyside Lair..." Rumple's ears drooped, "Along with Mungojerrie." She brightened again and she and Mungo looked at each other happily. They nuzzled each other again, then Old Deuteronomy led them up to the great Heavyside Lair, where they could be together.  
  
*The End*  
  
Um... OK... I'm not sure where that came from... but it always bothered me. Why would you want to go to the Heavyside Lair if you liked the life you had and the people you had in your life? I never understood that. R & R, but if you're gonna flame, give a reason! JessicaVance@lovelornpoet.com 


End file.
